Racheal McCaig aka “Energizer Mummy” recently wrote a post called Bring on The Lactivists. She wrote it in response to comments she received regarding her tweet about Nestle sponsoring a “Perinatal & Pediatric Nutrition Conference” in Edmonton, Alberta. She says the responses to her tweet ranged from “tame to obscene” thus she cannot support lactivists because they just go too far. She says, “Nestle is sponsoring a conference. It’s being put on by Alberta Health Services, and they would not be able to do it without Nestle’s help. Why is that wrong?”
What I found to be the main problem with her post was that she, and possibly even some of the “lactivists,” seem to be missing the entire point about the problem with Nestle sponsoring this conference. She has the opportunity to “get it” when she says:
“It should also be noted that the conference is for healthcare professionals. Clearly the lactivists didn’t read that when they started sending me messages like:
‘There’s an inherent conflict of interest and a real danger of women getting mixed health messages.‘ ”
The issue is not about coming down on the moms who formula feed, either because they couldn’t breastfeed or because they choose to. It’s the fact that Nestle, the leading manufacturer of infant formula, is sponsoring a health care conference – for health care professionals! Breastfeeding is a health care issue!!!!
Health care professionals are the people we go to when we have breastfeeding problems. They are the ones who are there in the hospital delivering our babies and instructing us on breastfeeding techniques. They are the ones who have access to the nursery cupboards stocked with formula for our babies. They are the ones who make up our baby’s first bottle of formula when they think our babies aren’t getting enough breast milk. They are the ones who are supposed to know the answers, inform us, tell us what to do and where to go for help should we run into problems down the road, monitor our progress, give encouragement, etc. The problem is, it’s the hospital-based health care professionals who are contributing to lower breastfeeding rates in our country.
Why? Because many of them don’t receive training in breastfeeding. Only the ones who take that elective in school learn about it. So the nurses who think they’ll work in cardiology or the ER but then down the line decide the maternity ward would be a sweeter gig, don’t get those all important hand-outs from Breastfeeding 101. The nurses who have been around a long time and were taught different practices and haven’t bothered to update don’t have the right training either. And then there are just some nurses who feel sorry for a tired and worried mom and give their babies a bottle just to make everyone feel better. Yes, and diabetics just want to binge on candy sometimes too.
The doctors are no different. They aren’t omnipotent gods like we think they are. Doctors choose electives in school too. Even pediatricians aren’t experts in breastfeeding. If you go see a pediatrician because you think your baby isn’t getting enough milk, he or she is equipped to deal with the fact that your child is hungry, not the inner workings of your breast and how to get that milk flowing. They have the child’s immediate well being in mind, not the long term well being of your breastfeeding relationship.
This being said, some nurses and doctors are well equipped to deal with breastfeeding problems. Some are better than well equipped and rock the health care system when it comes to breastfeeding. But it’s because they took an interest in this subject once upon a time. Should you be so lucky to work with one of these health care professionals then please consider yourself and your baby to be blessed.
Until health care professionals start receiving mandatory training in breastfeeding and human lactation breastfeeding rates will continue to drop off well before the recommended six months. Until health care professionals receive this training moms will continue to wage little wars against each other. And until they receive training other mom bloggers of all kinds will assume that the issue is about mom versus mom intolerance, when the reality is that the intolerance is being mis-projected. We are victims of our own ignorance. About the medical education system and about the power of a corporation like Nestle that fuels the continuing poor practice choices of our health care professionals.
This is why a Nestle sponsored health care conference is a very bad idea.
I don’t write my anti- formula posts to make formula feeding moms feel bad, but I do hope that those who read this learn something and get mad. Mad enough to spur them to action or at least start talking about this issue - for the sake of their future babies and for the babies of their friends and relatives. When we live in a bubble of you versus me we get nowhere in helping children. When we can see the problem for what it really is we can start dealing with the real issues and support each other along the way.
What are your thoughts?
Related posts:
- Monday Musings: How Hospitals Contribute to Lower Breastfeeding Rates
- Monday Musings: Getting Paid To Breastfeed
- Monday Musings: Mannequin Mommy Breastfeeds!
- Monday Musings: Why Do So Many Women Living in Poverty Not Breastfeed??
- Monday Musings: Changing Culture
Tags: breast milk, lactivists, Monday Musings
An excellent post. Healthcare practitioners are trusted and confided in when mothers are at their most vulnerable, and yet many of them are actually being ‘bought’ by the formula industry with gifts and money.
There is such a conflict of interests here, perhaps those people bemoaning the fact that lactivists are too ‘radical’ should take off their blindfolds and see that they are just being reeled in by the formula companies. The fact is- Money Talks….perhaps if people cared as much about health as they do money the world wouldn’t be in the diabolical state that it is!
Laurie Sanders’s last blog post..If There’s No Link To Autism Shouldn’t We All Be Vaccinating?
Well done!
For those that still don’t understand, this is also the problem with drug companies marketing directly to doctors. Doctors get to learn all of these wonderful things about miracle drugs and then end up over prescribing drugs for things like ADHD, depression, etc. rather than suggesting, for example, some therapy.
Doctors will sometimes tend towards what is pushed in their face and marketed to death, rather than what is healthiest and best for the individual.
Annie @ PhD in Parenting’s last blog post..Hey there BlogLuxe VIP Blogger Panel
*applauding!* Great post. Situations that present a conflict of interest like this one go on alll the time, and not just with formula companies. People don’t realize how much of an impact lobbyists have, as well.
Shelly’s last blog post..Remembering Kalei
Thank you for this.
More people need to realize that though doctors go to school for longer than others, they didn’t learn everything and don’t know everything, and just like the rest of humanity, when they attend conferences touting the values of this or that, then that is what is foremost in their heads the next time they have to make a suggestion pertaining to said topic. If it’s a new medication for erectile dysfunction, then the next guy to walk into his office with that issue is going to be perscribed that. If the doctor just came back from a conference sponsored by a formula maker, then guess what his answer to breastfeeding woes will be…
slee’s last blog post..Body After Baby Challenge – a start
I couldn’t agree more.
I have posted before on how furious the formula manufactures have made me and my friends who had formula fed were entirely upset. It wasn’t until sometime later after some frank conversations with me, that they realized, it’s NOT ABOUT MOMS, for me, it’s about how the formula companies do business, and how they seek to undermine the health care community.
We have a problem, and the continued marketing of formula and sponsorship of health care events with misinformation is a central issue.
Azucar’s last blog post..Dear Gentlemen in the Nissan with the Bullhorn,
@Laurie – I agree that money has become a more important to health care than a person’s actual health. Look at US insurance companies. Anyone seen “Sicko” by Micheal Moore? Now I am generalizing here because of course there are individuals whose passion lies in helping people. But the institution of health care is a very very sad one.
@Annie @slee – Yes, you are bang on. I think one should consider the fact that being a doctor is a very stressful job too. When I’m feeling brain dead in my job my brain moves towards what’s easy and what I best remember too. Doctors are no different. And they have malpractice insurance and the science of FDA approved drugs behind them. But just because something is “approved” doesn’t mean it is the best.
@Azucar – In your short comment you have done a much better job of pinpointing the problem with formula companies doing business with the health care system than I did. Thank you!
I commented on the ‘Bring on the Lactivists’ post – in fact I was the first commenter. As I said in my comment, Nestle isn’t sponsoring the conference out of the goodness of their hearts. Health care professionals are marketed to intensively. There are ethical debates, dilemmas and rules about the sorts of perks doctors may or may not accept from pharmaceutical companies marketing prescription drugs. We recognize that a doctor feeling obligated to prescribe a medication since he or she received a bunch of great stuff from a company isn’t good. So why is Nestle any different? They are hoping to gain something by sponsoring this conference. I can see why they would offer. But the health authority should be cognizant of the potential for conflict.
Amber’s last blog post..Maternity Leave in France
My thoughts exactly! If I had not been determined to breastfeed my preemie son, I would not have continued because of the amount of formula that was shoved down my throat in the NICU. The struggling newborns are the ones who need colostrum and breast milk the most, yet the lactation consultants spend more time telling new moms how to mix formula, and refusing to store pumped milk at the hospital.
If doctors won’t admit that they are simply engaging in a business decision when promoting formula, we need to out them by turning down their free bags and coupons.
Chelsea’s last blog post..
Another great post, so much info, not enough education ~ both professionally & personally. I agree that it is the health care providers’ responsibility to be informed, but it is also your responsibility to make informed choices of your own. There are community groups that reach out to new moms & offer all sorts of info, the public health nurses, family doctors, LLL…. to name a few, we as a society need to demand the right to be informed from all sides in an unbiased way.
I agree many health care professionals over prescribe, but they are also responding to a demand made by the public. I am of the lucky few that have an amazing doctor that can call a spade a spade ~ no sugar coating the truth, she simply speaks her mind,& does not hesitate to refer me to someone else when something is out of her expertise! We also have to be aware that the doctor is not, nor should be a one stop shop!
Nestle is doing their job very well, they market within the professional communities as well commercially, & we let it happen, they have no one to answer too, & their product continues to fly off the shelves….
More education is my solution, you control what goes into your body as well as your baby’s, it may take a lot of resources to get the answers you need to make a choice of what is best for your family, but ultimately the power is yours.
Great post. You are right about healthcare professionals not being educated about breastfeeding, which is strange when you consider that breastfeeding is such a fundamental part of human nutrition. But medical science is so much more concerned with dealing with symptoms, with healing people, than with preventing illness in the first place. I do think things are changing in this respect, and I hope breastfeeding will come to be seen as preventative of many diseases.
I find it hard to get excited about the whole Nestle thing, because I would hope that medical professionals have enough nous to make their own minds up about any marketing Nestle inflicts on them. But maybe I am giving them too much credit! Like you said Melodie, doctors are just like you and me, except they chose to study medicine at university. I have to stick up for lactation consultants though. The one at my local hospital is fab, and she talks about how she gives short shrift to the formula company reps who try to persuade her to endorse her products. I wish all medical professionals were as good as her.
Cave Mother’s last blog post..My Baby is Crawling!
what are my thoughts? my thought is that all who can should have their babies at home, like I was fortunate enough to be able to. get as far away as you can from those nurses and doctors who know nothing about breastfeeding.
Christine’s last blog post..Happy Birthday Mom
Nestle is sponsoring the conference purely as a marketing standpoint for their corporation. There is no way that they are even considering the aspect of healthcare. All that they see are dollar signs and the possibility of gathering new supporters…
All I can say is “Amen, sister!”. You got it bang on. I could go on a rant of my own but since you covered most of my arguments, I’ll leave it you, Oh wise Bloggette!
“They aren’t omnipotent gods like we think they are. ” —-> here they are generally thought to be
which is why unethical formula marketing really makes a difference —> Formula for Disaster!
Jenny’s last blog post..What’s Up This Weekend?
Great post. I totally agree that Racheal misses the point. She and others who commented on her post are quick to blame breastfeeding mothers for the guilt that others feel and accuse them of “going too far” and say that they “come down” on women who don’t breastfeed. Why are people always pitting breastfeeding mothers against mums who don’t? It distracts us from the real issues; in this case, formula companies with ulterior motives.
Thanks for setting the record straight and talking about the real issues.
Family Nature’s last blog post..Lowering Expectations about Babies and Sleep
What a wonderful well-written post! You are directly on target, as usual!
Thanks for the pingbacks to my 2 posts!
I have attended numerous conferences over the years and I can tell you many or most were fully or partly sponsored by formula companies..mostly Ross and Mead-Johnson. As a health-care professional (HCP)…. in the earlier days….., before I became a Lactation Professional, I never thought this was wrong.. I thought it was great! What wonderful trips..what wonderful food… what a great conference! Then I learned about the WHO code and how strongly these companies push their products to HCP’s. I never realized how we are doing their marketing for them!
My fellow Lactation Professionals helped me realize and understand this further with activity to boycott Nestle years ago. I don’t attend any now. The companies still come on the unit and are quite pushy and leave behind many little “gifts”!
I have encountered many co-workers who simply don’t understand that if you are wearing a name tag holder with a little “Nestle Good Start” emblem on it– You are advertising and promoting their product. The mother may or will think … and this is what they– the companies hope for… “That nurse thinks Good Start is good, she’s wearing it on her tag, it must be the best for my baby”…
It is an difficult thing to break. I have a secretary who didn’t want to copy my breastfeeding handouts because Ross Labs (Similac) had offered to print them… so why should she do that work?? This is how they think.
A few years ago, I tried to re-educate ALL the nurses, OB’s and Peds in my hospital during World Breastfeeding Week 2006 when the theme was “Code Watch: 25 Years of Protecting Breastfeeding”. I did have a lot of questions and maybe some understood. But changing actual
practice is difficult. There is little or no formal breastfeeding education for HCP’s. You are right. We all have to keep trying to educate as we go. Think globally, ACT locally. These “mommie wars” are something I don’t get… I just talk to each individual to find out what they know, what is in their heart, what do they want to do?? And then we come up with a plan that works for them.
I hope all moms out there who choose to or have to formula feed can understand that most lactivists are about proper education, educated decisions, and correct lactation management, support and advice– not condemnation……
Most well educated lactivists are against the formula companies who cause the misinformation to the health care professionals which of course filters down to the poor mommie and baby who then get inaccurate info and advice along with a bottle.
Whew! Where’d all that come from… just sat down to the computor from vacation.
Birth_Lactation’s last blog post..At the beach !!!
Yes yes yes! Educated wise women speak on my blog. I love it!
@Melissa – My posts always feel more complete with a comment from you. You really bring the issue home with your HCP/LC background/experience. Thank you! I wish everyone would read your blog!
Melodie’s last blog post..Monday Musings: Do You Nurse Your Baby To Sleep?
Women need to educate themselves. Bottom line. Breastfeeding is the best thing for your baby. FACT. If you’re doctor tells you that you need to give your baby formula, question it. Do your own research. Do the research while you are pregnant so that you are armed with as much knowledge as possible. So many moms, just get that advice and just say yes. We do need to trust our healthcare professionals but just because they tell you to do something, doesn’t mean you have to. You should most definitely consider it, and the reasons why they are telling you to, but ultimately it’s your decision. Much to my surprise, my midwife told me to supplement with formula, when my 3 day old daughter didn’t particularly like my milk when it came in. It was a huge ordeal, she was hungry, but she wouldn’t take my milk. I said no. And guess what? after we gave her some sugar water and made sure she burped out all the gas from crying so much (she cried a lot at every feeding for about 24 hours), she did eventually drink my milk, and she continued to do so for 16 months, all the while being one of the chubbiest babies I know. Go with your instincts and not with the easiest answer. Life isn’t easy and neither is breastfeeding, but once you do it and I think that 98% of you can, you won’t regret it. I’m not bashing formula or women who choose to formula feed, it just upsets me about how much ignorance there is out there about breastfeeding.
@Sandy – Bravo! Well said!
[...] twitter or some news sites, and I read about hospitals contributing to lower breastfeeding rates, formula companies sponsoring health conferences, moms getting kicked out of pools and off buses, breastfeeding moms getting yelled at by [...]